ISLAMABAD, Jan 17: Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Saturday said the government, with the help of the private sector, would generate an additional 4,000 megawatts of electricity by the end of this year.

“This will enable the country to get rid of loadshedding,” he told a press conference after attending the signing ceremony of an energy purchase agreement for the country’s first wind farm with a Turkish company.

Under the agreement Zorlu Enerji signed with the Hyderabad Electric Supply Corporation (Hesco), the latter would purchase six megawatts of power to be generated at the company’s facility in Jhimpir. It will be sufficient to electrify 6,900 homes in the Hyderabad region.

Turkish Ambassador Engin Soysal was present at the signing ceremony.

The minister said that 11 rental projects had been initiated to plug the gap between power supply and demand over the next 11 months.

Another 10 such projects were in the pipeline, he said, adding that surveys would be carried out in Kalar Kahar, Gharo and other areas for setting up wind mills.

Mr Ashraf said the government was considering long-term projects like Diamir-Bhasha dam, Neelum-Jhelum and Kohala projects. He said a plant would soon be set up in Karachi to generate 20MW through waste.

He said that an investment of $30 billion, including $20 billion from the private sector, was required to generate 15,000MW by 2015.

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority has fixed 12.1057 cent per KWh which, officials say, is cheaper than the electricity generated by thermal sources.

This is the first commercial wind power project in the country. It comprises five towers in the first phase with an installed capacity of 1.2MW wind turbine generator per tower. The project will later be able to produce 50MW of wind energy.

According to wind data collected from the Pakistan Metrological Department and analysed by the AEDB, the coastal belt of Pakistan’s wind corridor -- 60km wide (Gharo-Keti Bandar) and 180km long (up to Hyderabad) -- has a potential to generate 50,000MW of electricity through wind energy.